TATA: An Electric World Beater

Tata Motors, the largest car manufacturer in India, has announced that it will launch an all-electric car in the Indian market this September (2013).

Speaking on the Cornell University micro-blog, Tata Group Chairman, Ratan Tata, confirmed that the car will be ready for roll-out soon. At their 2008 Annual General Meeting, Tata had previously announced that they will be developing sustainable technology and had tasked their Research Centre to achieve this.

Tata, who also owns British luxury brands Jaguar and Land Rover, has announced that the car will be just the first of a long initiative of eco-friendly, hybrid, bio fuel and electric cars and a full range is already being developed.

President of Tata Motors Engineering Research Centre, Dr Tim Leverton who is also the man heading up the development of India’s next generation of passenger and commercial vehicles says that the work on alternative energy systems is already well advanced. Emphasis has been placed on micro-hybridisation, developing stop-start, energy recovery and other technologies designed to deliver incremental fuel consumption savings.

Field tests have been underway since January 2012 when twenty five all-electric cars were sent to the UK. Tata already has a compressed natural gas hybrid bus available since 2011 and has shipped ten of these to Spain last year. Tata believes that the urban bus application is probably the closest to being commercially viable.

Tata is not alone in the development of alternative energy options for the Indian market. Other domestic producers are developing their own versions. Ashok Leyland is already marketing their HYBUS and Mahindra has developed a range of three-wheeler and four-wheel commercial vehicles specifically for the urban markets. It is going to be a competitive market but Tata believes that their approach will help them become a global player in the automotive market.

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Automology: the study of all things automotive. From product launches, racing and automobile events to technological advances, personal mobility trends and sustainability. And the occasional viral video and silly car caper.